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Dec.
2 , 2002 |
Blanchet Receives ASME's Burt Newkirk Award
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Thomas Griffin
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Thierry Blanchet, associate professor of mechanical,
aerospace, and nuclear engineering, has received the Burt L. Newkirk
Award from the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME).
Blanchet is the 22nd recipient of the award, which
is given to individuals who have made notable contributions to
research and development in the field of tribology. Tribology
is the analysis of friction, wear, lubrication phenomena and the
application of such principles to mechanical design, product development,
manufacturing processes and machine operation. The researchers
must be 40-years-old or younger to qualify.
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Blanchet is the 22nd recipient of the award,
which is given to individuals who have made notable contributions
to research and development in the field of tribology.
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Blanchet joined the Rensselaer faculty in the
fall of 1993. Prior to joining Rensselaer, he did a research residency
at Rensselaer for Boundary Layer Analysis, and NASA Lewis Research
Center Surface Science Branch.
Blanchet also has received the Rensselaer Early
Career Award (1999) and the Al Sonntag Award (1993 and 1998).
The Burt L. Newkirk Award is named after a former
Rensselaer faculty member in the department of aeronautical engineering
who was the first to accurately describe the action of the oil
whirl.
Newkirk worked for GE for several years and upon
retiring came to Rensselaer to teach. He was one of the first
to apply the technique of high-speed schlieren photography to
study the flow in aircraft centrifugal superchargers. In 1950,
he became professor emeritus of vibration theory and practice.
Newkirk was a fellow of ASME, which honored him
in 1975 by creating the award in his name.
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